Inservice Summary

Headlines - October 14, 2011

What happens on school In-service days?

In-service days are dedicated work days for our teachers and staff. The work which we accomplish on these days usually centers on professional development and planning. This past Monday and Tuesday were no exception.

Monday was reserved for our teachers to be in their classrooms to reflect, organize, prepare and begin writing their fall reports about your children. I found many of our teachers hunched over desks and computers, beginning to write progress reports. Teachers spend a lot of time and effort writing reports. The end product is usually a concise and informative narrative about your child and how they learn. While I know parents are thrilled to find out how much their teachers know about their children, teachers also benefit from writing them. Narrative progress reports require teachers to focus intently on each student as they write. This helps teachers to know their students and gain a insight of their individual strengths and challenges. It is a day well spent.

Teachers at the Friends Schoolhouse also had a productive day on Monday. As a new program, there is still much refining and experimentation to be done. Our teachers had an open discussion on the program and decided to implement a few tweaks in the coming weeks.

Tuesday, all teachers attended an all-day workshop on Meta-cognition; thinking about thinking. Cornell professors Derek Caberra and Laura Colasi, gave a workshop in the DSRP method of deep understanding. We learned that thinking can be broken down into four areas:
• Distinction; identity/other
• Systems; part/whole
• Relationships; cause/effect
• Perspectives; point of view
Helping children to recognize, organize, and apply these thinking strategies can lead to deeper understanding, longer retention, and higher transfer of knowledge among subject areas. These strategies occur continuously in our brain while we are thinking and form the basis of our knowledge. In the workshop, teachers got an overview of the research and then practiced diagramming lessons using the DSRP method. I have already had teachers share with me their experiences using DSRP in their classroom. There is a flyer in your Friday folder that explains more.


Announcements

Pumpkin Painting Party – All families and friends are invited to the school on Friday, October 28th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm for our first pumpkin painting party. The community room will be open for the all families to come and decorate pumpkins, eat pizza, and get into the spirit of the season. Pizza will be available to purchase Pumpkins and decoration materials such as paint, fabric and paper will be on hand for your use.

Halloween – Halloween has always been a special holiday at Friends and this year will be no different. Monday the 31st will be our day of celebration. Children a re encouraged to bring their costumes to school with them. After lunch the younger grades will parade through Foxdale village. A Monster Mash in the community room will follow the parade and classroom parties will end our day. It will be an action packed afternoon and parents are encouraged to join in the fun. We will retain some traditional events such as the Foxdale parade and classroom parties and add some new ones. Look for more information soon.

Anat Cohen Quartet – the school just received two tickets to the Anat Cohen Quartet concert on Thursday October 27th at the Schwab Auditorium. These tickets will be given to the first family to donate $100.00 to our annual fund.
Spices - Our annual SPICES social and silent auction is just around the corner. Please make plans to join us on Sunday, November 6th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. A great evening of friends, community, music and food awaits. Please make plans to come.

Lunch Anyone? - Hot lunches and Pizza Fridays will be available at our school in November and December. Look for the flyer in your Friday folder.